


The Unthinkable

by PrioritiesSorted



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-28
Packaged: 2017-12-30 19:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrioritiesSorted/pseuds/PrioritiesSorted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Each reaction was different, each tinged with its own unique emotion, but one factor was constant: the idea that this was unthinkable. Because Sirius Black could never have been a traitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Molly

It was terrible. Unthinkable. She’d seen Black at the last Order meeting, he’d joked about James’s cabin fever. She’d never been close friends with the Potter gang, being just that little bit older, but each and every Order member had trusted Black absolutely. He’d loved James; that much seemed clear in the way his eyes lit up as he talked of baby Harry, how he and Ron and Frank’s little Neville would surely be friends when they got to Hogwarts. The children of the war together.

He was a good actor, she’d give him that. He had them all convinced; never uncomfortable, never betraying any trace that he wasn’t their best and most committed fighter. That he was a spy. A traitor.

It had taken Arthur over an hour to calm her down, because if Sirius Black was a spy, they could trust no-one. Never had Molly been so afraid; not in the midst of battle, or hiding in the darkness holding her breath. Then, she knew who she could trust, or thought she knew.

And the guilt was eating away at her, because she’d never suspected Black could be the traitor. It was always Lupin that she was watching out of the corner of her eye. You-Know-Who had been recruiting more and more werewolves every day, and Greyback was growing in strength. She hated herself for her prejudice, hated herself for suspecting him when he was innocent, when he’d lost everything.

If she was shocked, what about Remus? 


	2. Minerva

Minerva McGonagall needed to sit down. She’d known when James and Lily had been killed that Sirius had betrayed them, but she never thought this. This was unthinkable. She’d assumed it had been the Cruciatus Curse, Imperio, Veritaserum, because Sirius would never deceive James. They were brothers, those two. 

It seemed no time at all since both had stood before her, heads bowed but grinning inanely as she’d lectured them on the proper conduct of sixth year students. “Proper conduct” in that instance certainly did not involve swapping Severus Snape’s crushed beetle eyes for crushed Billywig stings, causing his Polyjuice Potion to form highly explosive bubbles, which in turn covered the entire Potions classroom with the foul smelling solution. 

She’d joked with them on their last day of Hogwarts that the pair would end up in Azkaban, but not once had she imagined it would ever come to pass. They said he was mad, and the face that stared up at her, laughing and laughing on the front of the Daily Prophet, certainly was. But it was not the face of Sirius Black. The eyes did not sparkle with mischief, the mouth not turned up in his characteristic smirk. Instead, she stared into the face of a murderer, a madman. 

Another voice floated back to her through the veils of her memory, another laughing, smiling voice that said, 

“You really think Azkaban will affect him, Professor? After all, how much madder could he get?” 

Remus.


	3. Andromeda

He’d always called her his favourite cousin. And though she’d never told him as much, he was her light in the dark; he was living proof that there was hope yet for the Blacks.

As the _Daily Prophet_ fell to her feet in the kitchen, Andromeda had never felt more hopeless. Even if the Dark Lord was gone, perhaps forever, she was left alone. In the mad eyes that stared up at her from the front page, she could see her sister, her mother, her aunt, her grandparents.

“Mummy?”

Andromeda tore her eyes away from the paper to find her daughter’s face, concern covering her small features. A wave of love came over Andromeda, and she reached out to pull her daughter closer, a whimpered, “Oh Nymphadora” escaping her lips.

She couldn’t quite hear her daughter’s response, smothered as she was by Andromeda’s robes, but she felt sure it had been,

“Don’t call me that.”

Nevertheless, Nymphadora’s small arms had twined themselves around her mother, gripping her robes. Andromeda could hold on no longer, and her tears began leaking into her daughter’s short violet hair. After a moment, Nymphadora broke away and looked up into her mother’s face,

“Mummy, why are you crying? I thought everything was going to be good now.”

“It will be, darling, it will be. But Mummy’s had some bad news; I’m afraid Sirius won’t be able to come and see us anymore.” She explained, still trying desperately to keep herself together. When Ted came home, she would be able to cry properly, but now she had to stay in control, for Nymphadora.

“The thing is, Sirius did a very bad thing, and now he’s gone to prison. He won’t be coming back out again.”

The confusion was evident in Nymphadora’s small face as she listened, but she did not question her mother’s testimony.

“What will his friend do now?” she asked eventually, and Andromeda steeled herself to reply,

“I’m afraid his friend is dead, sweetie. James and Lily were killed, do you remember? And the reason Sirius is going to prison is because he... he killed Peter.”

“No. Not them. I know that.” Nymphadora replied, “I mean the other one. The quiet one with the patchy robes.”

“Remus? I... I don’t know my darling.”

“He must be terribly sad. And lonely.”

“Yes. Terribly.” Andromeda breathed, pulling her daughter to her again. 


	4. Severus

He didn’t think it was possible to hate Sirius Black more than he already did. Unfortunately, Severus was wrong. What he’d felt before was mild dislike. Now it was a boiling, burning, hissing rage that seemed to engulf his entire being. He wanted to hurt Black, hurt him more than he had ever wanted to hurt anyone: Potter, Voldemort, his father. All were nothing compared with this.

Yet there was still room in Severus to feel surprise. He had to admit that when the Dark Lord triumphantly announced that they had a spy close to the Potters, Black hadn’t even entered his mind. He loathed himself for it. After years of petty adolescent squabbling, despite their differences, Severus had still let himself trust Black. Though Black made it ever so clear he did not return the sentiment.

Severus could not help thinking how tragically ironic it was that Black had been the traitor all along. Even after they had left Hogwarts, Black found a way to take everything from him. If he couldn’t have Lily, he would have her be happy. Black made sure that could never happen.

He glanced down at the paper before him, and a single line caught his attention, Remus Lupin, a close friend of both Black and Pettigrew, is unavailable to give comment at this time. Perhaps he was not the only one. Perhaps Lupin had lost everything, too. Perhaps he was the only other who understood.

Severus dismissed the thought almost as soon as it occurred.


	5. Remus

He crumples. He doesn’t feel his knees crack against the stone floor. They are nothing.

He thinks about screaming. He thinks about breaking down and crying and raging and dashing himself against the flagstones. But he doesn’t. There is no-one left to care.

He is conscious that he is breathing in and out. There is a rushing in his ears, but everything is very quiet. Eyes unfocused, he stares at nothing.

He wonders if he ought to be feeling something more than this. He reminds himself that he feels nothing because he has nothing.

Everything he had is gone: cursed or blown up or poisoned. He feels himself choke as he breathes,

“Sirius... why?”

 


End file.
